After starting out in comedy on popular 80s TV show Moonlighting, Bruce Willis quickly established himself as a bonafide action star and box office draw. Willis used his trademark smirk and rugged charm to carve out a niche for himself as the wisecracking, working-class action hero.
In fact, Bruce Willis has become so closely associated with B-grade action movies that many people forget just how versatile an actor he can be. In a career spanning over four decades, Willis has dabbled in comedies, action movies, horrors, thrillers, and even sci-fi. And while some of these movies rise to the level of modern masterpieces, plenty of others come across as misjudged cash grabs. So, here are 5 times proved Bruce Willis proved he can act – and another 5 when he barely even phoned it in.
Can Act: 12 Monkeys (1995)
Terry Gilliam’s mind-bending time travel movie stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner from a dystopian future in which most of the world’s population has been wiped out by a deadly virus, and those that survived have been forced to live underground. His autocratic overlords send him back in time to research the origins of the disease, which they believe was deliberately released by a terrorist group known as the “Army of the Twelve Monkeys.”
Praise was heaped on Brad Pitt for his supporting role as the mentally disturbed founder of the Twelve Monkeys, but Bruce Willis is the emotional heart of the movie. He plays the doomed, fatalistic time traveler perfectly, transforming a character we initially meet as a drooling, grumbling monster into a tragic hero.
Can’t Act: Color Of Night (1994)
It’s unfair to lay all the blame for the failure of this erotic neo-noir on Bruce Willis’ performance. Attempting to capitalize on the success of earlier 90s Verhoeven-esque erotic thrillers, director Richard Rush leans heavily into the erotica and mistakenly trades suspense for melodrama. The resulting movie is an uneven, campy, exploitative mess, not helped by Willis’ wooden turn as flagrantly irresponsible psychiatrist Bill Capa.
Although Bruce Willis famously bared all for the role, his privates obviously didn’t hold the same audience appeal as Sharon Stone’s did years earlier in Basic Instinct (1992), and the movie bombed at the box office.
Can Act: Pulp Fiction (1994)
Arguably the greatest movie of the 90s, Quentin Tarantino’s postmodern crime film Pulp Fiction helped resurrect Bruce Willis’ acting career after a string of flops (including the aforementioned Color of Night). Featuring a strong ensemble cast, razor-sharp dialogue, graphic violence, and an unconventional narrative structure, Pulp Fiction captured a sense of effortless cool often imitated but never bettered.
Willis is perfectly cast as aging boxer Butch Coolidge, who is on the run from crime boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Marsellus had bribed Butch to take a dive in his most recent fight, but Butch instead wins the bout and flees with the money.
Can’t Act: Hudson Hawk (1991)
Not only did Bruce Willis star in Hudson Hawk, but he also co-wrote both the film's screenplay and its theme song. The resulting vanity project is an embarrassing, awkward, unfunny mess of a movie. With trademark thin-lipped smirk permanently etched on his face, Willis plays the eponymous cat burglar alongside partner in crime, Tommy “Five-Tone” Messina (Danny Aiello).
While Willis delivers a few decent wisecracks, his signature charm comes across as hammy, as the film relies too heavily on slapstick and campy overacting. It’s unfortunate because Willis has proved he can be a great comedic actor, but he’s generally funniest when playing against type.
Can Act: Die Hard (1988)
The movie that really launched Bruce Willis’ career was John McTiernan’s seminal action film, Die Hard. Willis plays off-duty police officer and down-on-his-luck everyman John McClane, who is inadvertently swept up in a hostage situation at his estranged wife’s office building on Christmas Eve.
Bruce Willis is perfectly cast as the world-weary, reluctant hero McClane, and would go on to reprise his role (to varying degrees of success) in four subsequent sequels. However, this first entrant in the franchise is an action classic that also features Alan Rickman’s unforgettable turn as criminal mastermind Hans Gruber, arguably the best villain in action movie history.
Can’t Act: A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
The fifth (and currently, last) Die Hard film sees John McClane going international to take down the Russians and rescue his son (Jai Courtney), an undercover CIA agent imprisoned in Moscow. Unfortunately, in a post-Fast & Furious world where action movies are all populated by unkillable superheroes, the gritty humanity that originally made John McClane such a relatable character is lost amidst the bombast of an increasingly ludicrous string of set pieces.
Even Bruce Willis seems exhausted by John McClane’s shtick by now and he spends much of the movie lazily recycling old lines from earlier films in the franchise. But it’s not entirely his fault: the movie also suffers from a poor script and a lack of any decent characters.
Can Act: Death Becomes Her (1992)
Robert Zemeckis’ black comedy has Willis playing against type as meek and awkward plastic surgeon Dr. Ernest Menville, who gets caught in a murderous love triangle with conniving frenemies Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn). Things take a turn for the supernatural – and the bizarre – when Helen and Madeline both take a magical potion that grants them immortality and eternal youth.
The effects might look a little hokey by today’s standards, but it’s great watching these three Hollywood heavyweights hamming it up in this bizarre cult comedy. And it’s Willis that almost steals the show – trading his ubiquitous smirk for oversized glasses and soup strainer mustache, he isn’t afraid to undermine his action star persona as the glib, downtrodden Ernest.
Can’t Act: The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
2000 black comedy The Whole Nine Yards was a surprise hit at the box office, but still never warranted a sequel. And yet, we got one. Unfortunately for all involved, this movie just feels like a desperate cash grab and was universally panned by critics.
Willis’ hitman from the original film Jimmy “the Tulip” Tudeski is now happily retired and living out his days in domestic bliss, occupying his time fastidiously cleaning his house. However, his peaceful life is disrupted when his former mob boss (Kevin Pollak) is released from prison. Predictable and heartbreakingly unfunny, The Whole Ten Yards is unfortunately another Willis effort best forgotten.
Can Act: The Sixth Sense (1999)
Before M. Night Shyamalan became a parody of himself, he was touted as Hollywood’s heir apparent to Spielberg, mostly because of the breakout success of his supernatural horror film, The Sixth Sense. The film follows child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe (Willis) who is traumatized by the suicide of one of his former patients. Years later, Malcolm comes across another boy who complains of similar psychological symptoms and he vows to make up for his past failure by helping the boy.
Thoughtful, multilayered, and concluding with one of the greatest twist endings in cinema history, The Sixth Sense is a taut, frequently scary thriller that rewards repeat viewings. But for all the critical praise heaped on the film’s direction and screenplay, it’s really Bruce Willis’ understated performance as tortured Malcolm Crowe that gives the film’s ending its emotional gut punch.
Can’t Act: North (1994)
Bruce Willis plays multiple roles badly in Rob Reiner’s famously awful family comedy North. The film stars a young Elijah Wood as the eponymous North, who decides to live out every bratty kid's dream and legally divorce his parents. A judge grants his request, on the condition that he finds new parents over the course of the summer, or risk ending up in an orphanage. Willis narrates the movie and appears along the way as several advisors to North who help guide him on his quest to find a new family.
Despite the immense talent behind it, North was famously panned by Roger Ebert and has even been labeled one of the worst films ever made. The movie’s failure isn’t Bruce Willis’ fault, but his turn as a sardonic mall Easter Bunny definitely didn’t help.